2 Nephi 33: 11-12

2 Nephi 33: 11-12:


"And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye—for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day; and you and I shall stand face to face before his bar; and ye shall know that I have been commanded of him to write these things, notwithstanding my weakness. And I pray the Father in the name of Christ that many of us, if not all, may be saved in his kingdom at that great and last day."


You judge. You decide. If you don't believe, Christ will vindicate Nephi's teachings, and you will learn just how wrong your judgment was. For Nephi will be at the judgment bar with Christ. You will stand "face to face" with Nephi as you stand before Christ. You will see, along with all those who abuse and treat true messengers as "things of naught," that you have rejected Christ when you rejected His words delivered by one authorized to speak in His name. Nephi invites you to judge his words with the confidence of knowing that he was given power to say all he said. And he had the Lord's confidence because he didn't say anything about what the Lord instructed him not to speak about.

You will one day know Nephi was "commanded of [Christ] to write these things." Nephi was commanded despite his "weakness." In this context "weakness" is a relative thing. Because Nephi had seen the Lord his perspective allowed him to measure himself against perfection. It allowed him to assess the difference between the Lord as Teacher, and Nephi as servant. 
The holiness, majesty and power of God were known to Nephi. He had already had the experience of seeing the absolute standard of holiness in Christ. For most people this will come at the last day, and will result in them understanding, for the first time, that they should have repented. (Mormon 9: 3-5.) Nephi had already been able to reconcile himself to Christ. Therefore Nephi knew of his own "weakness" and of the power of redemption found through Christ.


Nephi's prayer was for the redemption of all. He hoped that "many of us, if not all, may be saved in his kingdom at that great and last day." Nephi knew he had been redeemed. Yet he identifies with all of us who read his words, and hoped all may be saved.


The measure of a prophet's ministry is in the salvation of others. Nephi does not celebrate his own redemption. He agonizes over the salvation of others. He labors for the redemption of "many...if not all" of the rest of mankind. This is the pattern. Redemption causes the redeemed to work for the salvation of others. Perhaps it might be better put that the reason someone obtains the kind of redemption Nephi obtained is because they are of a character to work for the redemption of others. There is no reason to withhold the promise of eternal life from them, because others will be redeemed as a result of their redemption. They will labor, preach, teach, intercede, seek, pray, and work tirelessly to bring others to the tree of life. They become a fellow-servant with Christ and labor alongside Him in the work of redeeming others. This is one of the reasons for the parable of The Busy Young Man in Ten Parables.


Nephi is working directly toward redemption of others. There is no secondary or indirect route being taught. There is no attempt to get some kind of "activity" started, or to introduce a program to do anything apart from bringing you to repentance. He wants you to approach Christ directly through the power of the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, which will teach you all things you should do. He wants you to hear and speak with the tongues of angels. He does not want to entertain, distract, or emotionally move you. He wants you to come to Christ. Nephi only tells you the minimum about himself, giving only such information as may be relevant to his message concerning Christ. To the extent he is able, Nephi consistently draws your focus to the Lord.


There is great understanding of how a true friend of Christ lives, acts and thinks found in Nephi's writings. They are a urim and thummim into what you find in a man of God. Imitations will always exist.  But the real thing is going to be far more like Nephi than Joel Osteen. More sleeves rolled up and fewer cuff-links.

I do hope we may all join Nephi and are saved in the kingdom at that last day. I hope we recognize how great Nephi's teachings are, and how they address our day with the message we need to hear and heed.